


Ends of the bell curve

by ProdigySorcerer



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-25
Updated: 2014-12-15
Packaged: 2018-02-27 00:35:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2672324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProdigySorcerer/pseuds/ProdigySorcerer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Self Prompt "We're gone one week-end and you end up joining a cult ??? Weren't you the responsible one ?"</p><p>Against all the wisdom that has been imparted to him by Cressen,Davos and even Robert Stannis ends up opening the door to a red headed girl from his high school who want to talk to him about his "relationship with the Lord of Light", unwittingly getting involved in something much larger.</p><p>Modern day AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Stannis I

It was saturday evening at the Baratheon home, and for once Stannis could relax and finish his work in peace since Robert was out of town for a game, Renly was invited by the Tirells on a trip to their vineyards and their guardian Cressen was away at a medical conference.

 

Truth be told he had already done his report for history class studied for the incoming math test and read all the assigned chapters for english, thus he could take the rest of the week-end off and just sleep in or even invite people over and host a party.

 

He could feel veins popping up in his forehead, everyone who had left had made the same joke “ohh I hope you don’t host a wild party ” as if the fact that he believed in honesty and duty thereby did not gather a flock of fools to masquerade as friends, was somehow reflecting negatively on him.

 

Even Cressen himself his supposed guardian made the same quip although much more subtly than Renly or Robert, at least the old man apologised immediatly after seeing his righteous furry reflected on his face, but the damage was done Cressen had revealed himself as no better than everyone else.

 

“Although I already knew that it was my own weakness which made forget the nature of those around me, my own selfish desire to be accepted by ... “ his dark thoughts were interrupted by his ring tone, the default one aka the proper one which had come with his phone, he pulled it out cursing Cressen for buying him one.

 

He simply wasn’t Robert who needed to store the numbers of 500 girls so he could sext them at once or even worse Renly who couldn’t sit down and eat something without first sharing it to instagram, still Cressen had pleaded to him that having the phone meant he could check up on him and thus not be worried constantly so Stannis had finally relented after negotiating the purchase of the most practical “no bells and whistles” smartphone they could find.

 

Truth be told he was expecting it to be some advertising campaign, his brothers simply did not understand security or privacy and had given out their own and his e-mail phone number etc all for a 10% discount or other baubles, yet it was in fact a SMS from Selyse Florent.

 

“Selyse, Selyse ...” he said aloud as he considered whether to open the message, the closest he had come to having a girl friend in that she was female and if push came to shove he was pretty sure she would describe their interactions as “friendly”.

 

They had met at school where she had been campaigning for abstinence and he was the only man who she could get to sign the pledge, from the beginning it was clear what her thing was and that thing was the Faith of the Seven.

 

 

Now Stannis was far from an atheist, his family had worshipped the Seven since they had taken the name Baratheon and thus it was his duty as well to pray in the Septs of the Faith, yet Selyse took it a lot further thinking back he had been worried from the start about her maybe she was using the Faith to sublimate other matters or as a escape.

 

“Hey Stannis how r u doing ?” the text was simple yet incredibly broken he found out as he finally opened it.

 

“Hello, I am doing well.” he replied tersely yet with impeccable spelling .

 

“Waht u doin on a saturday ? out on the town ?” came the reply SMS almost immediately, she had moved away some months ago her parents relocating due to work, Robert told him they were in deep financial problems and the stress had gotten so bad there was talk of divorce.

 

Rober knew this because statistically speaking one of his manny one night stands had to be connected to any event in a 600 leagues radius, in this case he had a thing with Selyse’s cousin.

 

“No, I’m at home would you mind getting to the point woman.” Stannis replied feeling no need to beat around the bush.

 

“Did u read those sites & pamphlets ???” Stannis instantly regretted answering her now, she had sent him a lot of links to sites belonging to the Church of the Red God, apparently the Seven were not enough for her and she decided to reneg on the faith and duty of her Westerosi ancestors.

 

“Yes” it was the truth, he had felt obliged to skim them they weren’t a cult or illegal but there was nothing there which could tempt him to leave the religion of his father and mother.

 

“Ok :)” somehow the simple reply and the smiley that accompanied it filled him with dread.

 

Yet a hour passed and no other messages came, Stannis had taken to watching the news and talk shows again this was something he could truly enjoy now that he was alone, if his brothers had been here they would have popped in to offer him some prune juice in a  sarcastic manner, as if themselves would not need to know the laws or policies of their government when they entered the real world.

 

But knowing Robert and Renly their careers plans probably involved becoming tomorrow's Che Guevaras thus not needing to understand law and order.

 

And then there were three loud knocks at the door, Stannis rose and went to reply, looking through the peephole he saw a girl his age, red headed and dressed all in red carrying a huge red book, now the way the peephole and the door were constructed it was impossible for her to have heard him approach or see him checking her out.

 

“I’m hear to ask if you’ve accepted the Lord of Light as your own personal saviour?” she said obviously thinking he was still on the way.

 

Every instinct he had, every piece of wisdom Cressen and even Robert shared told him to just go and retreat further into the house and wait for her to take her cultish self home.

 

“I know you’re there Stannis ...” she said as if reading his thoughts


	2. Melisandre I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Newly arrived in Westeros, Melisandre of Ashai decides to sacrifice her free Saturday afternoon for the Red God and try to convert her first Westerosi, a serious boy her age which is only hearing her out because of a duty to a common friend.
> 
> She dared to hope, for success she steeled herself for failure what she did not expect was the path R'hhlor would open for her nor the travel mate he had chosen.

Melisandre was prefectly happy lounging around that Saturday afternoon, she had moved all of her boxes into her new room opened half of them and actually put half of those things in what should be their proper place.

Some may have called her room untempered chaos but then again she never stooped so low as to listen to those small petty minds who couldn’t handle the world without their precious rules and regulations, even if those minds belonged to her parents.

She had to admit tough that she had to spent a entirely too long period searching for her phone amidst the piles of clothes, when the damned thing signalled that she had received a message, again some unbelievers might have suggested another color but red for either her phone or her wardrobe.

Still she found it within herself to forgive both their lack of consideration for her desire to exult the Red God as well as their lack of consideration regarding style in general.

The message was both short and cryptic “he’s home alone, go get him” still given the sender of the message Selyse Florent, Melisandre figured out after a few seconds who she was talking about.

She thought of Selyse, she didn’t regret befriending her R’hlorr knew the girl needed someone having moved to a nw town a new school and more importantly newly inducted into the church of the Red God, when it became apparent that her own family would move to King’s Landing Selyse devoted her entire free time prepping her for the move so that she wouldn’t feel lonely or up rooted.

The fact of the matter is Melisandre hadn’t actually went to none of the places Selyse had suggested or joined any of the clubs and extra curricular activities Selyse mentioned, she meant to but in her own time at her own discretion and after hew own time table.

Beyond Selyse’s personal advice for Melisandre they had also talked shop about how Melisandre could use her more extensive training in the Red Faith to proselytise in the more heathenish King’s Landing and this was where “he” would come into play.

According to Selyse at least, this boy Stannis was the singular one true decent boy in all of her new high school and as he had been a friend of Selyse and he was the same age as her and Melisandre he seemed the perfect opportunity to establish a foothold for the Red Faith in her new school.

There had been an exchange of messages between the two devotes of the Red God in the two weeks since Melisandre had moved and this Stannis was the only male mentioned so again she was pretty sure she interpreted the message correctly.

Still there was a risk, this was over the week-end people she had found out would much rather save a few more minutes for Candy Crush Saga by slamming the door in her nose rather than potentially save their souls with the Lord of Light.

Still as she got on her bicycle a route planned out to Stannis’s mercifully close address, Melisandre could only look into herself and think “that game is damn fun though.”.

The sight of Stannis’s house gave her some pause, it was huge his family clearly didn’t lack in wealth but it might have been one of those “excentric” rich families, amidst a sea of cookie cutter respectable upper middle classes it stood out due to it’s Neo-Valyrian style, a style which had appeared more than half of a millenia after Valyria herself had become a ruin and run it course hundreds of years before the present day.

She’d give it one thing, it was imposing and eldritch even if it was more suited to dragon riding sorcerers rather than the stock brokers of this day, Melisandre finally approached the door feeling a bit like the the main character in a slasher flic although she quickly shook it off.

“I’m doing the Red God’s work he will surely provide all the protection I would need” she thought after she pushed the doorbell button.

The minutes were ticking and ticking away, the house wasn’t actually a manor or a castle it just was trying to trick you into believing it was one so this Stannis or whoever was at home probably should have responded by now, then she suddenly felt as if she was watched.

“I’m here to ask if you’ve accepted the Lord of Light as your own personal saviour?” she began hoping that her voice would reach whoever was on the way, the message seemed a bit artificial to her but she had talked with some local Red Priests and they had assured her phrasing the lord of light as personal saviour was the way to appeal to the Westerosi.

She continued to feel this almost unnatural tension emanating from the door she supposed it was better that there were persons inside the house who wouldn’t let her in yet rather than having wasted her time in coming to an empty house, yet she couldn’t be sure so she whipped out her phone and sent a message to Selyse describing her situation and asking if she had misunderstood the situation or address.

The reply from her fellow Red God follower was almost instantaneous “:(( that man locking himself in lik he’s teh king and u the ironborn just w8 a bit.” and indeed no more than 5 minutes must have passed before she heard a loud thump from inside, as if someone had hit the door with a large heavy object and the door opened to reveal a boy her age.

He was kind of skinny for his age and she herself was taller than him but his expression seemed to radiate if not enough willpower to bend steel than at least a degree of stubbornness that meant he would try until he did it or he died trying.

Stannis uttered no words only made a gesture for her to enter and as she pushed forward she felt for a second as if she was the maiden in a vampire film unwittingly having give the undead beast access to herself.

“My name is Stannis Baratheon as Selyse probably told you ...” he began to introduce herself and she cut in the sites she’d been reading emphasised how the Westerosi didn’t care for the structured conversation of her native Ashai and prefered their interlocutor to be friendly and talk as much as possible.

“Melisandre but my friends call me Mel ...” she said offering both her hand and a smile.

He only acknowledged her handshake but at least his hand proved firm. 

“Selyse asked me to show you around as we go to the same school and integrating can be quite diffi ... ” he started

“asked or bribed or blackmailed” she couldn’t stop herself from quipping

“asked” Stannis repeated although in a lower tone “I owed her and she has chosen to transfer the time and effort to you “ he continued taking this supposed debt in the most serious manner” so that you may use as you wish I am familiar with most of the advanced courses and I can help your academic integration plus I am a member in several well regarded clubs such as the cyvasse club, the debate cl... ”

“I’d much rather spend the time talking about the Lord of the Light.” she said with a sheepish half smile.

Stannis merely made a gesture with his shoulders which seemed to convey “it’s your bussiness lady”

“So will we do this in the hallway ?” he asked.

“That would be most unorthodox.”

“Aha I guess the kitchen would not be proper as well that leaves ... ” he started to hesitate the redheaded teen could guess he was going to suggest his room in some ploy to bed her “no that would be ... the living room it is then. ” and he motioned her to follow him.

As she entered Melisandre’s eyes fell on the reason he was trying to arrange for them to be in another room, a huge fireplace which was just waiting for it to be used in a quick ceremony so she could demonstrate some of the power of the Red God to Stannis.

“Can we ?”

“No!!” he replied but then realised how he’d almost barked it as a order “I mean I’d rather if you don’t are fires so essential to the daily worship of your god ?”

“Well our Faith isn't stuck in the past ” she began as she sat down in a comfy chair “we recognizee that followers of the Red God are more likely to live in crowded urban areas which frown on on open fires, plus now with the Faith being more spread out then ever our believers are in environments where regular fires just aren't possible.”

“ Soo that's why I'm psyched to see that you have a fireplace ...” 

 

“Also the forests ...” Stannis said 

“Hn ?”

“We can't really burn wood frivolously now that the total area covered in forests is dangerously low ...”

“'Oh an environmentalist” Melisandre began with a smile 

“I'm just being practical we have a duty to pass on the planet ...” Stannis was very quick to defend himself almost as if she would have started to call him a dirty hippy.

“You know I kind of suspected it since I saw your garbage cans all separated for recycling.”

“That's the law.” he replied.

“There was also a note addressed to a umm Renly reminding him in very strong words that peaches are organic and should go in the organic bin.”

Stannis suddenly found the walls of his own living room very very interesting but finally after realising that she wouldn't let this go huffed and began.

“Renly’s my brother he thinks that if he were responsible he’d suddenly turn into a 50 year old man with a Ford and plaid clothes, so he take s quite some pleasure in being wasteful ”

“I'd like to say I can feel your pain, but I'm a only child, I think my parents were too scarred of what would come out if they tried again.”

Stannis just sat there and looked at her as if there was a joke he wasn't getting, Melisandre considered that it could have been a joke but she just shared some true facts about her parents. 

“What does the Red Faith think of homosexuality ?” he asked as if he had a mental list of issues he wanted to argue with her about and he was simply running it down.

But honestly for her this was so far the most intelligent discussion about the Faith she'd had in KL, most people only saw the Faith as a Fire Cult and actively fought any new knowledge which might change their views.

“'Well every revelation we have from the Red God is from ages long past when homosexuality couldn't even be considered openly, so those revelations just don't touch the subject.” 

“That being said everywhere the Red Faith is dominant numbers wise there also gay members of the Faith who are open about their sexual orientation.”

“So it like the Seven in their treatment it isn't explicitly supportive but also it isn't automatically against.”

“Yes, men can bend any faith to suit their views especially when it comes to hate, unfortunately.” Melisandre agreed it seemed while she thought back to the times Selyse described Stannis she had detected a hint of mutual romantic tension from the stories, but maybe he was interested in this subject for personal reasons.

Or perhaps he just care for people to be treated equally, his orientation wasn't really important here it was about winning a soul for the Red Lord.

“Ah and if we're on the subject what about passion in general what does the Red God's laws say about love before marriage” Stannis asked, catching her by surprise.

If he had meant as a come on she thought he would have put at least a little more effort into it and not asked in a academic manner.

“The association between Red and Passion is not unwarranted I think you will find R'hllor is much more forgiving than the Mother or the Father on this subject.”she replied in a softer tone.

“And of the Father what does the Red God say about the wisdom of our elders and respecting it?”

For a second she couldn't believe that she had just heard a 17 year old like herself ask about the “wisdom of our elders” yet apparently that was exactly what happened.

“In general we respect it ... uh I've never really been asked this about my faith ... don't be offended but I was expecting to use the majority of my time to explain that I'm not a fire witch and that I'm not part of a cult which wants to set the whole world on fire.”

"Selyse sent me some sites, I've skimmed them and it would be rather absurd to believe your faith is so destructive when it is dominant in several countries in Essos and those are still stable not a burned down to a crisp" he replied.

Melisandre started to smile Stannis seemed to be the sort that welcomed stability and order so the thoughts he shared made her believe she was on the right track.

"Still you have a hard sell, the Seven have been the gods of my familly since we chose the name Baratheon back in the Storm Lands, the Seven are the main religion in most of Westeros why should I chose to be seen as a outsider by everyone I know."

"But ..."

"Let me finish, what can your God offer that would be worth that ?" Stannis said with frightening focus looking her right in the eye.

That's when the Red Priestess realised something, this was a battle that could be won Stannis obviously was lacking something in his life, the Seven weren't up to the task of comforting him and he was willing to consider other options.

But just because the battle could be won, didn't mean it would be easy this was the moment where it would probably all go to hell where her first attempt at a conversion would fall appart.

Yet she knew that she had to try, put her best foot forward and hope he would agree to dance.

"We'll need a fire ..." she said turning her head slightly to the fireplace.

"I was afraid you'd say that." he certainly didn't seem pleased that he would need to build a fire.

"Please, the weather here is so much colder than Ashai and I've got a long road home when it's over."Melisandre fibbed a little in a switch of tactics.

Stannis looked down from her face to what she was wearing, and lingered on her clothes really her chest area but he was quick enough to come to his senses and returned his gaze to a appropriate conversational level,even tough he was now sporting a cute blush.

"Fine." he relented "I owe Selyse at least going through with one of your rituals if you've come all the way here when you're not even settled in." Stannis continued but she could tell he was masking his own curiosity with his promise to Selyse.

He went to work bringing the wood from the cellar and then slowly breathing life into the fire, they discussed their own skill in making fires her from the rituals of her faith, his from the camping trips he took with his guardian and siblings apparently camping was on the very short list of things he had in common with his brothers.

Finally when the fire was roaring she got on her knees and began her chants while Stannis was sitting close to fire looking in as she instructed albeit she could see on his face that he was buying into it and was becoming more grumpy by the verse.

The ceremony she had selected was one of the more grandiose and mistic ones, she'd hoped it would impress him bring out a experience like the ones he'd confessed to never having found in the septs but she advanced and nothing happened Melisandre began loosing hope.

Still to leave it unfinished would be a disrespect to the Red God and Stannis for his part seemed stubborn enough to want to soldier through it just so he could say "I told you so".

As she reached the final three stanzas Stannis seemed to become more interested and in an almost trance like state he crawled closer to the hearth, looking in with the utmost fixation.

"... the night is dark and full off " she was chanting but could finish as Stannis erupted in a scream.

He then jumped back seemingly afraid of the fire and uttered:

"You ... you ... witch what in the Seven Hells was that?"


End file.
